New vaccine offers hope in Africa's malaria battle
SIAYA, Kenya (AP) _ A mother watched with dread as a nurse inserted a tube in her baby's head. Blood streamed into the anemic 4-month-old who already has malaria, the mosquito-borne disease that kills a million African children every year. "Malaria is one of the deadliest sicknesses for children," the nurse said _ words that sent the young mother into a crumpled heap on the bed beside her wide-eyed baby boy, wrapped in a blue-and-yellow floral blanket.
Half of US kids will get food stamps, study says
CHICAGO (AP) _ Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say. The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said lead author Mark Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
Poor countries see troubling rise in breast cancer
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Nurses were training women in rural Mexico to examine their breasts for cancer when one raised her hand to object. If she lost her breast, Harvard public health specialist Felicia Knaul recalls the woman saying, "My man would leave me" _ and with him, the family's income. International cancer specialists meet this week to plan an assault on a troubling increase of breast cancer in developing countries, where nearly two-thirds of women aren't diagnosed until it has spread through their bodies.
UN: $39 billion needed for pneumonia
LONDON (AP) _ To fight pneumonia, the world's top killer of children, United Nations officials say they need $39 billion (€26.35 billion) over the next six years. On the first World Pneumonia Day on Monday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF are releasing a global plan aiming to save more than 5 million children from dying of pneumonia by 2015.
New group helps US monitor swine flu shot safety
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Independent health advisers begin monitoring safety of the swine flu vaccine on Monday, an extra step the government promised in this year's unprecedented program to watch for possible side effects. Decades of safe influenza inoculations mean specialists aren't expecting problems with the swine flu vaccine, because it's made the same way as the regular winter flu vaccine. But systems to track the health of millions of Americans are being tapped to make sure _ to spot any rare but real problems quickly, and to explain the inevitable false alarms when common disorders coincide with inoculation.
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More insurers are paying for alternative remedies
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks. ___
FDA won't accept Merck's application for new drug
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) _ U.S. regulators have refused to accept drugmaker Merck & Co.'s application for a new, combination cholesterol pill that includes rival Pfizer's Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug. Merck disclosed the rare move by the Food and Drug Administration in a regulatory filing Monday.
Humana 3Q profit jumps on government programs
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) _ Health insurer Humana Inc. rode its strong government business in posting a 65 percent jump in third-quarter profit Monday, as bulging membership and premiums from Medicare Advantage overcame a lackluster commercial segment hampered by the weak economy. Louisville-based Humana said its quarterly revenue rose 8 percent as enrollment in its Medicare Advantage offerings grew 11 percent from a year ago.
House calls as cost-saver in health care reform?
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The doctor doesn't look like much of a crusader, bent over the frail frame of 90-year-old Alberta Scott. He has a lavender stethoscope strung round his neck and some serious bedside manner at work on this stubborn nonagenarian who wants to be anywhere but where she is: in a nursing home bed, hoping to heal and get back home.
Govt says swine flu vaccine catching up to demand
WASHINGTON (AP) _ A senior adviser to President Barack Obama says the government will catch up to the demand for swine flu vaccine within a week. Obama adviser David Axelrod says the manufacturers of the vaccine were wrong when they advised the administration earlier this year that they would have 40 million doses ready near the end of October. Instead, only 28 million doses of vaccine were available.
